http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/ne ... 081357.htm

Posted on Thu, Jul. 20, 2006

Grand jury weighing charges in immigrant shooting

By WANDA J. DeMARZO
wdemarzo@miamiherald.com

A grand jury is convening today to determine if charges should be filed against a Broward Sheriff's Office deputy who shot a Mexican immigrant whom he mistook for a burglar.

Pompano Beach Deputy Lewis Perry and his partner, Richard Mosca, responded to a call of a burglary in progress at the Whispering Isles complex on West Sample Road on Nov. 3, 2004.

When deputies arrived at the sprawling complex, they were met by two witnesses who gave a description of two men they said were trying to break into an apartment that the manager said was vacant.

The deputies spotted two men, German Gómez, and his cousin Javier Domínguez, walking across the parking lot. Perry and Mosca tried to talk to them, but Gómez and Domínguez, who arrived in Pompano Beach just three days before -- after leaving Chiapas, Mexico, a month ago -- didn't speak English.

The deputies didn't speak Spanish.

When Perry tried to handcuff Gómez, his weapon went off. The bullet struck Gómez in the left side of his head. Perry told BSO investigators Gómez bumped into him causing the gun to discharge.

Gómez was taken to North Broward Medical Center where he remained in critical condition for several days. The Mexican Consulate hired Gómez an attorney, David Kubiliun.

''He said they were coming home to what they thought was their apartment, but the key wouldn't turn,'' Kubiliun said.

Realizing they were in the wrong building and wrong apartment, the two men walked back downstairs to the parking lot where they found themselves surrounded by deputies with guns drawn, Kubiliun said.

The two men raised their arms and attempted to communicate with the officers.

Gómez needs up to an hour to get dressed, depending on what he is wearing. Brushing his teeth can take 20 to 30 minutes. Writing his first and last names takes nearly one minute.

Perry could not be reached for comment and his attorney representing him in a felony case -- he was charged in with perjury, four counts of official misconduct and one count of falsifying records stemming from a Nov. 12, 2003, accident he was involved in while driving a BSO patrol car -- could not be reached for comment.

Perry was terminated in December after an internal investigation into an unrelated matter but was reinstated in late June.

That same day, BSO suspended Perry in another unrelated matter. Since a short time after his release from North Broward Medical Center, BSO has been paying for Gómez's recuperation at Manor Pines Convalescent Home and Williamsburg Landing Assisted Living Facility in Wilton Manors.